SPSS

SPSS is a computer program used for statistical analysis. Between 2009 and 2010 the
premier vendor for SPSS was called PASW (Predictive Analytics SoftWare) Statistics, while
copyright issues for the name were settled. [1] The company announced July 28, 2009 that it
was being acquired by IBM for US$1.2 billion.[2] As of January 2010, it became "SPSS: An
IBM Company".

Statistics program
SPSS (originally, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was released in its first version
in 1968 after being developed by Norman H. Nie and C. Hadlai Hull. Norman Nie was then
a political science postgraduate at Stanford University, and now Research Professor in the
Department of Political Science at Stanford and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at
the University of Chicago.[3] SPSS is among the most widely used programs for statistical
analysisin social science. It is used by market researchers, health researchers, survey
companies, government, education researchers, marketing organizations and others. The
original SPSS manual (Nie, Bent & Hull, 1970) has been described as one of "sociology's
most influential books".[4] In addition to statistical analysis, data management (case selection,
file reshaping, creating derived data) and data documentation (a metadata dictionary is
stored in the datafile) are features of the base software.

Statistics included in the base software:

 Descriptive statistics: Cross tabulation, Frequencies, Descriptives, Explore,

Descriptive Ratio Statistics
 Bivariate statistics: Means, t-test, ANOVA, Correlation (bivariate, partial,
distances), Nonparametric tests
 Prediction for numerical outcomes: Linear regression
 Prediction for identifying groups: Factor analysis, cluster analysis (two-step, K-
means, hierarchical), Discriminant

The many features of SPSS are accessible via pull-down menus or can be programmed with
a proprietary 4GL command syntax language. Command syntax programming has the
benefits of reproducibility; simplifying repetitive tasks; and handling complex data
manipulations and analyses. Additionally, some complex applications can only be
programmed in syntax and are not accessible through the menu structure. The pull-down
menu interface also generates command syntax, this can be displayed in the output though
the default settings have to be changed to make the syntax visible to the user; or can be
pasted into a syntax file using the "paste" button present in each menu. Programs can be
run interactively, or unattended using the supplied Production Job Facility. Additionally a
"macro" language can be used to write command language subroutines and
a Python programmability extension can access the information in the data dictionary and
data and dynamically build command syntax programs. The Python programmability
extension, introduced in SPSS 14, replaced the less functional SAX Basic "scripts" for most
purposes, although SaxBasic remains available. In addition, the Python extension allows
SPSS to run any of the statistics in the free software package R. From version 14 onwards
SPSS can be driven externally by a Python or aVB.NET program using supplied "plug-ins".

SPSS places constraints on internal file structure, data types, data processing and matching

files, which together considerably simplify programming. SPSS datasets have a 2-
dimensional table structure where the rows typically represent cases (such as individuals or
households) and the columns represent measurements (such as age, sex or household
income). Only 2 data types are defined: numeric and text (or "string"). All data processing
occurs sequentially case-by-case through the file. Files can be matched one-to-one and one-
to-many, but not many-to-many.

The graphical user interface has two views which can be toggled by clicking on one of the
two tabs in the bottom left of the SPSS window. The 'Data View' shows a spreadsheet view
of the cases (rows) and variables (columns). Unlike spreadsheets, the data cells can only
contain numbers or text and formulas cannot be stored in these cells. The 'Variable View'
displays the metadata dictionary where each row represents a variable and shows the
variable name, variable label, value label(s), print width, measurement type and a variety of
other characteristics. Cells in both views can be manually edited, defining the file structure
and allowing data entry without using command syntax. This may be sufficient for small
datasets. Larger datasets such as statistical surveys are more often created indata
entry software, or entered during computer-assisted personal interviewing, by scanning and
using optical character recognition and optical mark recognition software, or by direct
capture fromonline questionnaires. These datasets are then read into SPSS.

SPSS can read and write data from ASCII text files (including hierarchical files), other
statistics packages, spreadsheets and databases. SPSS can read and write to
external relational database tablesvia ODBC and SQL.

Statistical output is to a proprietary file format (*.spv file, supporting pivot tables) for which, in
addition to the in-package viewer, a stand-alone reader can be downloaded. The proprietary
output can be exported to text or Microsoft Word. Alternatively, output can be captured as
data (using the OMS command), as text, tab-delimited text, PDF, XLS, HTML, XML, SPSS
dataset or a variety of graphic image formats (JPEG, PNG, BMP and EMF).
The SPSS logo used prior to the renaming in January 2010.

Add-on modules provide additional capabilities. The available modules are:

 SPSS Programmability Extension (added in version 14). Allows Python, R,

and .NET programming control of SPSS.
 SPSS Data Validation (added in version 14). Allows programming of logical checks
and reporting of suspicious values.
 SPSS Regression Models - Logistic regression, ordinal regression, multinomial
logistic regression, and mixed models.
 SPSS Advanced Models - Multivariate GLM and repeated measures ANOVA
(removed from base system in version 14).
 SPSS Classification Trees. Creates classification and decision trees for identifying
groups and predicting behaviour.
 SPSS Tables. Allows user-defined control of output for reports.
 SPSS Exact Tests. Allows statistical testing on small samples.
 SPSS Categories
 SPSS Trends
 SPSS Conjoint
 SPSS Missing Value Analysis. Simple regression-based imputation.
 SPSS Map
 SPSS Complex Samples (added in Version 12). Adjusts for stratification and
clustering and other sample selection biases.

SPSS Server is a version of SPSS with a client/server architecture. It had some features not
available in the desktop version, such as scoring functions (Scoring functions are included in
the desktop version from version 19).

[edit]Versions
Early versions of SPSS were designed for batch processing on mainframes, including for
example IBM and ICL versions, originally using punched cards for input. A processing run
read a command file of SPSS commands and either a raw input file of fixed format data with
a single record type, or a 'getfile' of data saved by a previous run. To save precious
computer time an 'edit' run could be done to check command syntax without analysing the
data. From version 10 (SPSS-X) in 1983, data files could contain multiple record types.

SPSS version 16.0 runs under Windows, Mac OS 10.5 and earlier, and Linux. The graphical
user interface is written in Java. The Mac OS version is provided as a Universal binary,
making it fully compatible with both PowerPC and Intel-based Mac hardware.

Prior to SPSS 16.0, different versions of SPSS were available for Windows, Mac OS

X and Unix. The Windows version was updated more frequently, and had more features,
than the versions for otheroperating systems.

SPSS version 13.0 for Mac OS X was not compatible with Intel-based Macintosh computers,
due to the Rosetta emulation software causing errors in calculations. SPSS 15.0 for
Windows needed a downloadable hotfix to be installed in order to be compatible
with Windows Vista.

[edit]Add-ons

 AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) - add-on which allows modeling of structural

equation and covariance structures, path analysis, and has the more basic capabilities
such as linear regression analysis, ANOVA and ANCOVA
[edit]Release history

 SPSS 15.0.1 - November 2006

 SPSS 16.0.2 - April 2008
 SPSS Statistics 17.0.1 - December 2008
 PASW Statistics 17.0.3 - September 2009
 PASW Statistics 18.0 - August 2009
 PASW Statistics 18.0.1 - December 2009
 PASW Statistics 18.0.2 - April 2010